


Fire & Ice

by JensengTea



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Transformation, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24420493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JensengTea/pseuds/JensengTea
Summary: Female OC x Jack Frost: Lily Winter died tragically saving her sister... or so the newspapers said. Man in Moon brought her back 80 years later and gave her a very familiar set of powers. The Guardians send a certain winter sprite to fetch her after Manny decreed her a guardian. Sparks fly between Lily and said winter sprite! With help from the others, Lily sets out to find out what her center is. But when Pitch takes the opportunity to steal Lily away, what will become of Jack Frost? Has Lily Winter sparked more than just love in him? Has she thawed this guardian's frozen heart... literally?!
Relationships: Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)/Original Female Character(s), Jack Frost/Pitch Black
Kudos: 7
Collections: Jack Frost, ROTG, Rise of the Guardians, [✓] Rise of the Guardians





	1. Prologue

"LILY!" A voice screamed for me.

"EVE! WHERE ARE YOU," I screamed back at the white wall of snow.

"LILY!" came the reply. It was faint and still riddled with fear. It sent my heart racing. I ran as fast as I could towards the direction of her voice.

The white wall of swirling snow prevented me from seeing even my own hands. My face was raw from the biting cold that the wind blew towards me.

My hair whipped around my head, lashing out at my already raw skin. But I knew I had to save her. So I plowed through the wall... through my pain.

"Lily, help!" Eve's voice uttered. It was raspy and quiet. She was so close.

"EVE?!" I yelled. Her voice had been so weak. So fragile. I got no response.

The snow started to soften, the wind dying down. I could see my hands now and I wished I couldn't. They were blue and frozen - I couldn't move them at all.

As the blizzard moved out, I could see more and more. I scanned the clearing that I was in and realized that I was on a glacier.

How had I gotten there? I was standing right on the edge of it and looking for a safe way to cross when I saw Eve's bright yellow jacket, dead center of the glacier.

I stood there for two seconds and then without thinking sprinted across the frozen monstrosity, not caring about my safety.

I had to get to Eve.

She lay there unmoving with her eyes wide open.

"Lily, you found me," she whispered. Her voice was barely louder than the gentle breeze that ruffled her hair.

"Eve. It's okay you're going to be okay. Can you feel your fingers and toes?" I ask, worried more than anything about her welfare.

"Yes," she replied. I let out a breath of relief. She was alright. She was going to be alright.

"Eve, can you stand up?" She furiously shook her head in response.

"It moves, Lily." She was talking about the glacier.

"Please try, Eve. We have to get you home," I said urgently. I grabbed her hand and she slowly got to her feet.

The glacier moved and rumbled, protesting against our weight. I looked around and spotted a snow bank.

It was a few feet of a drop but it was off the glacier and it was safe.

"Eve," I said, "I want you to jump onto that bank. It isn't too far away from here. You see it?" I asked her.

She nodded. She let go of my hand and prepared to jump.

At that moment the glacier gave in and the ice cracked revealing a crevasse that looked to be about 100 feet deep and pitch black.

We were standing right on the lip of it and losing stability fast. I knew it was only a matter of time before the thin ledge gave way to our weight.

I shoved Eve as hard as I could and watched her land on the snow bank. She had made it and she was safe.

I started towards her and froze when I heard a loud crack. I slowly lifted my gaze to Eve who sat on that snow bank, staring at me.

Her blue eyes were wide and a ghastly expression that could only be described as horror was plastered onto her face. I took another step towards the bank.

Nothing happened. As I lifted my foot for the step that would bring me to safety, the ledge gave way and with a loud shatter, crumbled to nothing.

I screamed and grasped at the lip of the crevasse that was about to swallow me.

My shoulder popped and I felt pain in my arm like I had never felt before.

I was hanging by one arm now and it was tiring quickly. I could just see Eve's face over the lip of the glacier's gaping mouth.

She was in shock and couldn't make a sound. Her face was stark white and her eyelashes were frozen with tears.

I couldn't hold onto the ledge any longer... So I let go.

Eve's ear-piercing scream sliced right through me. It echoed threw the black hole I was now falling into.

"LILY!" she screamed as my hand disappeared from the surface of the ice.

My tears flowed in streams down my face. I was falling to my death. But these tears weren't all fear.

They were also tears of joy because I knew Eve would be safe. I knew I had saved her and that she had the rest of her life ahead of her.

And I was happy. I was glad that I would die for her.

"Goodbye, Eve. I love you," I whispered.

My voice was barely louder than the air that whistled past my ears.

I closed my eyes and my lips lifted the tiniest bits at the corner. Yes, I was happy.


	2. The Transformation

Lily was sure she was in heaven. Where else could she be? She had fallen 100 feet down a crevasse in a glacier.

There was no way she could have cheated death. Yet, she didn't feel as though she were dead.

She slowly opened her eyes to find that she was surrounded by... white. Nothing but white. She cautiously sat up, using her arms as support.

Where was she? Standing up, she inspected her body, surprised to find that she was not tattered and bruised.

In fact, she felt quite fine. She walked around for a bit, trying to find a clue about where she was. With no luck, she sat back down and sighed.

"Lily Winter."

Lily shot up and felt a sudden spell of dizziness. Next time, I'll stand up slower, she thought.

Who had said that? Was she going crazy? Yes, she thought, I must be going crazy.

"Do not be frightened, Lily Winter," the voice said again.

"Umm, hello? Who are you?" Lily asked to nothing in particular. She wasn't really expecting an answer.

"I am Man in Moon," said the voice. "I have made you a guardian."

Lily was shocked. She was overwhelmed with all kinds of emotions now. What the heck was that supposed to mean?

What was a guardian? Who was Man in Moon? Yes, she was going crazy all right.

What a strange dream, she thought. Wait, how can I dream if I'm DEAD?! She nervously scanned the white landscape.

There was no one there. In fact, there was nothing there! So she asked, "Umm, where are you?"

"I do not speak in person, Lily Winter. I speak through your mind." Man in Moon replied.

"Okay. That's a little weird, but okay," Lily said. "Anyway, where am I?"

"You are in the transformation stage now. This is where you transformation from human to guardian begins."

"So... I'm not dead?" Lily asked.

"No." came the response.

"Oh." She said as she thought, This is a little awkward.

"What is a transformation?" she asked, trying to keep the silence from getting even more awkward.

She didn't get a reply. She asked a few more times and gave up when she got the same results.

I guess he doesn't want to talk anymore, she thought to herself. She sat back down onto the surprisingly soft, white floor.

She noticed for the first time that she wasn't wearing her old tattered jeans and stained t-shirt. No. She was wearing a dress!

A beautiful white dress with silver swirling patterns neatly embroidered into it. She began inspecting herself more closely now.

Her skin color was a little paler but it wasn't a sickly color. And she was cold. Her skin felt cold yet she wasn't uncomfortable with it.

When she looked up, a mirror had appeared. She was stunned when she saw her reflection because the girl in the mirror looked nothing like the Lily she once was.

The girl in the mirror was... beautiful. Her hair was white! A beautiful silvery white that glowed faintly and swirled around her shoulders.

It went down to her mid-back and ended in waves and swirls. A breeze brushed her back and she caught a lock of her new hair.

It was silky and smooth. It was as if it had been dyed in moonlight and snow. The next thing she noticed was her eye color.

Though Eve had blue eyes (a trait she'd often been jealous of), Lily always had brown. Now, they were a crystal blue color.

A beautiful blue that was like nothing she had ever seen. They were as clear as the winter sky on a blue bird day.

Reaching from her pupil were delicate streaks of white as thin as the frost that was covering the mirror.

Frost! Lily thought. Where did it come from? Where she had placed her hand on the mirror, frost had swirled around it.

She lifted her hand off the mirror and stared at the swirling lines in awe. I did that. She thought. I made frost!

She brushed her fingers around the rim of the full length mirror and in their path, a new pattern of the delicate frozen magic appeared.

It finally dawned on her that this was the transformation. She was able to control winter!

Of course, she didn't know exactly what she could do so she didn't try to do anything new.

Suddenly the mirror vanished and the white faded to the most beautiful landscape she had ever seen.

Evergreens stood tall, coated in blankets of sparkling, freshly-fallen snow. The ground was untouched and as white as the clouds in the sky.

She wasn't on the ground, though. It only made sense that she would be floating on a cloud just above the ground.

After all, a man that lived in the moon had talked to her. She jumped off the cloud and landed lightly on her toes. The snow was soft and cold.

If she were still human, the snow would have been unbearable to walk in barefoot.

But now, being a "guardian" (she still did not know what that was) and after the transformation she was not cold at all.

If one were to touch her hand or her face, she would be as frigid as the beautiful icicles draped from the limbs of the evergreens.

She was well aware that she was still alive. But it still felt like heaven couldn't be far off from this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated! Hope you stick with me and my little story :)


	3. A New Discovery

Lily liked the feeling of the snow on her feet. The way it sifted through her toes.

It didn't melt and was, in fact, a completely different texture than when she was human.

It wasn't slushy and unbearably cold to the touch as it once used to be to her. It was soft and not the slightest bit uncomfortable.

Lily could feel each and every individual flake. Each crystal that had fallen from the sky.

A thought occurred in the back of her mind, was it me who created this snow?

In so many ways the snow was different. And yet there was one thing that was still the same.

It was still just as beautiful to her as it was before. She had always loved winter and delighted in playing in the powder with her sister.

She admired the icicles that decorated the frozen trees and thought the frosty designs on her windows were breathtaking.

The snow was still as white as the moonlight that had dyed her hair.

It still sparkled like millions of diamonds, each of their facets reflecting the sunlight into the crisp winter air.

And it still to her breath away.

She now understood that she was not dead and that all this was real.

She was overcome with joy and happiness that this miracle had been granted to her.

And EVE! She was alive, too! She had to be! After all, Lily had would have not fallen down a crevasse for any other reason than to save Eve.

Of course she would do that for her. Lily loved Eve with all her heart.

Excited to see her sister, Lily raced towards a hill that stood taller than any of the trees that were surrounding the clearing.

She would be able to find the glacier that had swallowed her whole. The glacier that she had died on.

The fact that she really had died and that a mysterious man living on the moon had saved her still hadn't settled with her.

As she ran towards the hill, she couldn't notice how inhumanly graceful the limbs that carried her were.

It was grace that could never be copied or achieved by a human.

When she reached the bottom of the hill, she realized at once how dreadful steep the darn thing was. It hadn't looked this steep from the clearing.

She started to crawl her way up, unable to walk in a normal upright position. When she was about halfway to the top, she decided to stop to catch her breath.

She was not hot or sweaty but was certainly tired. So she settled on a rock and closed her eyes to rest.

She wished she were a bird with long feathered wings to carry her up to the top. Sighing to herself internally, she opened her eyes.

As soon as she did, she noticed that everything was somehow clearer than before she had closed them.

She could see every crack in the boulder she was sitting on. Every blade of grass surrounding her feet.

She could see the patterns that the clouds made in the sky.

She could see nothing short of everything.

She started to look around and froze when she felt a strange sensation on her back. There was a gentle breeze and she felt it again.

It was almost like... like the breeze had ruffled the lace on her dress. But the lace had only been at the bottom of the beautiful gown she had been wearing.

She felt the ruffling sensation all over her back. Slowly, she looked down at her body.

A sound that was supposed to be a yell of surprise came out as an awkward squawk. Lily was a BIRD!

She was the exact bird that she had imagined two minutes ago. The only difference was that the bird she had seen had been every color of the rainbow.

Lily's new feathers were a silvery white. She glanced at the talons that used to be her feet. They were razor sharp and a beautiful pearly color.

Where her arms were, wings had sprouted. Each about three feet long and covered with dazzling feathers that caught the sun in just the right way.

It was then that she realized that she could become anything she could ever dream of being.


	4. Ice Sculpture

Experimentally, Lily stretched out one of her new wings to test how it felt. It worked just like an arm and to Lily's surprise, it was really easy to control.

She stretched out the other and decided to try flying.

She knew it was a crazy idea, but that's what happens to you when you are created by the moon and turn into a bird on the same day, right?

She started to move her wings up and down, creating a flapping motion.

After a couple minutes of doing this, Lily began to feel silly so she neatly folded her wings to her sides.

She hopped back onto the rock that she'd been resting on earlier and perched there. Unmoving and silent. Gazing at the breathtaking beauty of her favorite season.

The she spread her wings and jumped.

Lily was gliding in the air. Actually flying! It had been one of her childhood dreams and now she had accomplished it.

Well... minus the part where she turned into a bird. She circled the hill easily, admiring how her wings seemed to know exactly what to do.

As for the feeling of flying... words couldn't describe.

All she could say was that it was one of the most blissful and absolutely wonderful sensations she had ever felt in her life.

The wind carried her on it's shoulders, ruffling her feathers with such gentleness and affection that she just had to wonder, Did the wind treat everyone like this?

She lightly landed on the top of the hill and looked around. She had been right.

This was the perfect vantage point and she could see everything that the hill was taller than. So she had spotted the glacier with ease.

Lily also noticed that there was a small lake not too far away from it. She vaguely wondered if she had run across it during her frantic search for Eve.

She took to the sky once more and headed for the glacier.

While in the air, Lily thought about how she would approach Eve.

She didn't want to alarm her sister by changing into a white haired, immortal version of her big sister from a bird.

So, she landed on the bank of the frozen lake, deciding to walk the rest of the way.

The problem was, how did she turn back into her more human form. Lily had imagined the falcon in her head and that's what she became.

So she figured it was her best bet. She closed her eyes and imagined her human form.

It was right about then that she'd decided to continue calling herself a "human" since "immortal guardian whatever-that-is" was a bit of a mouthful.

She imagined her long flowing hair and pale skin. The beautiful dress made out of lace and colored with pearls.

Her striking electric blue eyes, the color of the beautiful icicles hanging from the evergreens surrounding her.

Slowly and cautiously, she opened her eyes, feeling lashes brush against her skin. She lifted her hands to her face, staring in wonder at her pale fingers.

She looked down at her dress. It was the same one she had been born with (she didn't know what else to call her creation). Her feet were, once again, bare.

Lily went to the edge of the ice and stared at her reflection. There were the eyes, blue as ever. There was the hair, white as snow.

And she watched as a smile started to creep its way onto her reflection's face. Lily straightened out of her crouch, grinning ear to ear.

Being a winter spirit was fun! And she decided not to let it go to waste. Lily grabbed a hand full of snow and dumped it onto the lakes glossy surface.

Shaping the snow and adding fine details took less than an ounce of effort. She had always loved art.

Ever since the moment she had shifted into that magnificent falcon, a plan had started forming in her head.

There were so many things she wanted to do, so many things she wanted to learn to do with her new found powers. And now, she was going to find out.

The figure she had created was a fox and the lines in her face were set in determination. She was going to make it come alive.

She concentrated on the frozen animal that she created, holding her hands out to it. Beckoning it to jump from the ground.

Closing her eyes, she imagined a beautiful white arctic fox leaping from the ice.

She opened her them again and watched with fascination as the frozen sculpture she created was showered in a shimmering cascade of sparks.

When they cleared, a fox as small as a young dog lay on the ice. It watched her with golden eyes that glistened with the evening sun.

It jumped high into the air with the grace of a swan and exploded into thousands of tiny snowflakes.

Lily laughed and smiled until her face hurt. Yes. She would find new things to do with herself everyday. And she would do it with her sister.

Now it was time to find Eve.


	5. Eighty Years

She approached the steps that had been carved into the glacier's side, leading up to the top.

Strange, she thought. I don't remember those. Well dang. It would have made getting up the glacier a bit easier.

She started the short climb up the glacier. When she reached the top, her jaw dropped in shock.

The crevasse! It was gone! How could it have disappeared in a couple of hours?! Glaciers took decades to change shape and heal their icy cuts.

She was about to shift back into a bird so she could look for the right glacier when a flag went up in her head. A tiny speck of color on the frozen, glacier.

She slowly walked towards it, suspicious that such color would be in such a colorless landscape. A land of white and blue.

As she came close, she saw that the color came from some sort of memorial. Realization struck her like a lightening bolt.

That was her memorial. Nobody knew she was alive because they all thought she was dead.

Though she was shocked to the core, her feet kept pulling her closer and closer to it, as if locked in a magnetic force.

The memorial seemed to be in some sort of casing. From no more than two feet away, Lily saw that it was a plexiglass dome.

It had been drilled into the hard frozen surface of the glacier. Condensation clouded the dome from the inside, making it hard to see.

Lily froze the dome and shattered it with a rock. Inside the remnants of its protective casing lay four objects.

The flash of color she had seen earlier was the red hair ribbon she had worn as a little girl.

The ends were frayed and tattered but it was still the same color, vibrant and sharp. The happy memories that had once filled that ribbon were gone.

They had vanished down that dreadful hole with her. The red color didn't look so beautiful anymore. It was the color of blood.

Fresh and bright, contrasting against the stark white snow.

The next thing she noticed was a vase filled with lilies that bloomed in the winter. There were three white Asiatic lilies and three Casa Blanca Lilies.

That was how she had gotten her name. Her parents had told her she'd loved the snow ever since she could walk.

So they named her after the beautiful lilies that bloomed in the winter. It made sense that they would put those flowers on her grave.

But the last thing she expected to see were newspapers. Two different ones. One was yellow and aged and the other looked brand new.

She picked up the old one first and read the date at the top. It was today's date. On the front page she read the title: GIRL SAVES SISTER WITH HER LIFE.

But it just didn't make sense. It had only happened a few hours ago. Seven at tops. How had the press published it in a paper so quickly?

And why would the paper look so old? She carefully set it down and picked up the second. She didn't bother looking at the date.

This section held all the obituaries from that day. She had expected to see her name, but when she scanned the page for it, she didn't find it.

Instead, she saw in big bold letters: EVE WINTER, AGE 90

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. Lily gawked at the title, horror spelled across her face. She couldn't comprehend what the letters had spelled out plainly for her.

Eve was DEAD. D-E-A-D dead.

Slowly, Lily's eyes traveled to the top of the paper. She stared at the numbers that made up the date.

Lily had been seventeen for almost eighty years.


	6. Alone

Lily had gone into shock. She had been seventeen for eighty years. How had so much time passed in what seemed like hours?

She was shocked that she would never age, shocked that the time had disappeared, and shocked that she would never see her little Eve again.

She sat there, on that glacier, churning this over and over in her mind.

She sat there throughout the rest of the afternoon.

She sat there when the sun left the sky, refusing to give in to her desire to admire it's beauty.

She sat there well into the night, in silence.

By this time, she had gotten over her shock. Her emotions had begun to boil up inside her. Contorting her face with anger and twisting it in pain.

She did not want to cry. She wanted to be strong for Eve. But she couldn't hold it in forever. She had reached her limit and she was about to explode.

And so, as the moon rose higher into the sky, she stood from the tight ball she had been sitting in. She ignored the pain that branched all over her body.

She glared at the moon, her eyes like blue flames. They burned with rage and hurt.

And then, she opened her mouth and screamed at the moon. She screamed at it to give Eve back. She screamed at it to answer her questions.

She turned to the direction the forest was in and screamed with all her might. S

he wasn't screaming at anybody in particular and she wasn't saying anything either.

She just made a horrific noise that could make even the scariest monsters shrink away in fear.

She screamed and screamed and screamed until she could manage no more than a coarse whisper.

She was unable to scream any longer because she was no longer angry. Lily's throat burned as if someone had stuck a hot branding iron down it.

So she didn't make anymore noise. Instead, she let silent tears fall from her eyes, freezing against her icy skin. She couldn't manage a sob, so they just fell in streams.

They were unwelcome tears. Sad tears that she cried for Eve. Lily ran out of tears when the sun finally rose, painting the sky pink and orange - the palette of dawn.

She decided that the moon wasn't going to bring her beloved sister back. He wasn't going to help her.

And he sure as hell wasn't going to answer her desperate questions. She rose from the ground, aching everywhere and exhausted.

As the last of the pink left the sky, she looked around. The forest seemed so quiet now. So empty. And Lily knew why.

Eve wasn't there and that meant she was completely and utterly alone.


	7. The Spirit of Winter

It had been a hundred years spend alone for Lily. She still looked seventeen but she was actually almost a hundred and eighty years old.

Still young for a spirit. Every single one of those days, she would wake up and face the rising sun and silently say, I love you, to Eve and vow to never forget her.

Never put her in the past and try to push her to the back of her mind. She promised that she would always love Eve with all her heart and soul.

Spending a century with no one to talk to all but drove her nuts. Lily had always been a social person and she longed to talk to someone.

She'd also always believed in the phrase, "Love and you will be loved." Right now, she was desperate for the love of another human being. Anyone.

Immortal or mortal. Hell, she didn't even know if other immortals even existed! What if she was just some sort of freak accident?

If there were others like her, they would talk to her... right? With her deprivation of social contact came boredom. And with boredom came mischief.

Lily always found something new to do. Some days she would spend her time sitting in a snow bank, trying to make a snowflake as detailed as she could possibly get it.

Other days, she would frost trees and flowers or make mini blizzards. She didn't know how to make full on blizzards yet, but if she did, she would have already.

She was constantly finding something to keep her occupied. Lily noticed that the winter weather changed slightly according to her mood.

When she was angry or upset, the snow would fall harder in small flurries around her. When she was happy, the snow fell lightly at her feet.

There were rarely any blizzards because she was rarely ever mad.

She had become very good at tucking away any negative feelings into the back of her mind, where they couldn't hurt her for long.

On occasion, she would slip up and all her unhappy feelings crowded to the front of it - there were just a few emotions that she couldn't push away.

She still felt lonely and she still felt fear. And she still felt despair and hopelessness.

So, she often took refugee in the small patch of woods that she had expertly decorated with winter, entertaining herself with the little ice creatures she made out of snow.

One day, Lily ran out of new ideas.

She'd never cared much for Christmas carols but that's exactly how bored she was when she started to sing "Winter Wonderland" out loud.

Everything was just too silent. She had to fill the emptiness somehow. She walked over to the little frozen pond she had created for herself.

Once in the middle, she sat down cross-legged and sighed, content. Lightly tracing her finger over the thick ice, she adorned the pond with frost.

Bored again, she decided to try a new trick. Jumping up into the air and catching the wind, she spun and twisted, somersaulting in the sky.

Her movements caused the wind to swirl around her in a vortex of biting wind, ice, and fresh snow.

Slowly, she descended from the sky as the vortex became a spinning ball the size of a baseball.

Blowing on her special snowball, she turned it into snow. She threw it up into the air and watched as it bursted into a shimmering mass of snow and frost.

At the same time that it bursted, a blue ray of light spread throughout the entire patch of woods, frosting everything within range of the ray.

Lily grinned from ear to ear. After all, she had finally mastered her most amazing trick yet.

But as she was congratulating herself for doing such a fine job, a light thud coming from behind Lily had her whirling on her heels, ready to defend herself from whatever it was she heard.

But she saw nothing amongst the newly decorated trees.

Was she going crazy? Yes, Lily thought. I have finally gone insane. I can't believe I'm that desperate for human contact. She felt the slightest presence of déjà vu.

"That was really pretty."

Lily jumped up and spun back around, looking for the source of the voice. But again, no one was there.

She was sure that voice had been real so she started walking off the pond, with her eyes and ears alert.

"Hey! Where ya going?"

Now Lily was positive she wasn't crazy.

But this time, she kept her wits about her and turned like a normal person rather than a crazed idiot that didn't know how to control herself.

And there standing in front of her, was the strangest boy she'd ever seen.


	8. To Trick a Trickster

The spirit of winter. This boy, standing right in front of her, was the spirit of winter.

He was the cause of her favorite season. He was practically the season itself!

Jack smiled at Lily. "We have the same abilities, you know," he said to her.

"I know," she replied breathlessly.

Suddenly, her lips turned up into a grin and she shouted, "THAT'S SO COOL!"

Jack's gentle smile turned into a playful smirk. "Of course it is," he said. "Everything Jack Frost does is cool."

Lily rolled her eyes at his cocky attitude. She looked at the sky. The bright, flashy colors of the aurora borealis began to roll through the cloudless atmosphere.

Jack let out a frustrated sigh. "Always something that has to be done," he mumbled — mostly to himself. He looked at Lily as said, "We have to go."

He grabbed her hand, causing her to blush slightly. "WIND! Bring me to the workshop!" he shouted.

The wind whirled around them, enveloping them in invisible arms. She had been right, Jack couldn't fly without the help of the wind.

Their feet left the ground and Lily whooped in delight. She had never flown as a human before. The wind picked them higher and higher into the air.

Suddenly, Jack dropped Lily, letting go of her waist. She stared up, open-mouthed and in shock at Jack.

She saw the mischievous glint in his eyes and she knew he was messing with her.

She started screaming and flailing her limbs through the air, making it look like she was in more danger than she was.

She felt a cool arm slip around her waist again as she slowed in her fall. Jack had a grin the size of the crescent moon plastered on his face.

He was having so much fun. A very irritated Lily growled at his definition of humor. "Jerk," she muttered through her clenched teeth.

He really was a trickster. But there seemed to be one thing he'd forgotten. So was she.

Thinking back to her earlier conversation about abilities, she thought, We don't have all the same abilities, Jack.

A smile tugged at her lips as she removed two fistfuls of snow from the two pockets that were sewn into her dress.

She moved slowly so Jack wouldn't feel her squirming and foil her plan. Carefully, she packed them together, creating the perfect snowball.

The smile had grown bigger on her face and she looked up at Jack — his own smile still clear on his face.

"Jack," she said softly, causing him to frown and look down at her. She shoved the snow in his face.

Jack, startled by the unexpected attack, let go of Lily, sending her plummeting down to Earth. Exactly what she wanted.

Ignoring Jack's panicked shouts, she imagined the white falcon that she shifted into whenever she needed a fast mode of transportation.

She felt her entire body tingle with change. She felt strong wings guiding her through the air.

A tail that steered her away from the sharp trees that were no more than a few feet below her. She listened for Jack's panicked cries.

But he had gone silent. Grinning mentally, she turned in the air to face him. The cocky smirk had vanished from his face, replaced with a gaping mouth.

"You... you just... how did you... WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Jack blurted.

Lily laughed silently. The poor guy was robbed of his words. He flew up next to her and she looked at him.

She was gliding now, just coasting with the air currents so Jack easily kept pace. His beautiful blue eyes were darting around, frantic and worried.

"You're the worst, Lily." He muttered. "I thought you were going to DIE!" he exclaimed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could almost swear he saw the corners of her beak turn up. With the knowledge that Lily was okay and could fly on her own, he smiled.

It truly was an amazing trick.

It was hard to trick a trickster, but Lily had done just that.

Sighing, Jack said, "Race you north."


	9. Meeting the Guardians

Lily watched as Jack shot ahead of her. She knew how fast she could go and she was not going to lose. So once again, she started to beat her wings and pick up speed.

It was not long before she had caught up to Jack. He glanced at her and then looked back ahead.

Then he jerked his head towards her again in a double take, eyes wide with surprise.

"How did you get here so FAST?!" he asked. The only answer he got was a loud screech which, he could only assume was laughter.

Lily watched as his brow furrowed in concentration. She let him get ahead of her by a few feet but shot ahead when she saw the frozen landscape below.

They were already at the North Pole. She streaked past him with lightening speed.

As she neared 343.2 miles per second (the speed of sound) she banked to the right, causing streams of air to trail from her wingtips.

She crawled closer and closer to the speed of sound until the telltale sound of the barrier breaking, resonated throughout the entire terrain.

The sonic boom was outrageously loud, echoing throughout the entire pole.

Lily slowed in her flight, circling a building that she supposed was "the workshop" as Jack had called it.

Once she reached a slow enough speed, she drifted towards the roof of the building shifting to her human form once she was directly over the center of the roof.

She landed lightly on the balls of her feet, scanning the air for Jack. He was coming straight at her.

Expecting him to stop, Lily just stood there, leaning against the flagpole. But he didn't stop. In fact, he rammed right into her and they toppled over the edge of the roof.

Suddenly, both spirits were falling five stories to the snow below.

After landing in a bank that cushioned their falls, Jack flipped onto Lily, wrestling with her and struggling to get her to stop moving.

"You CHEATED!" he yelled, an indignant look on his face. He wasn't infuriated but he sure as HELL didn't like losing.

"Get OFF, Jack! I won fair and square!" Lily yelled back, grunting as she flipped him him onto his back.

They wrestled like that for about five more minutes before they became aware of four pairs of eyes watching them.

Both of them scrambled to their feet in a mass of white hair and snow. They stared at their feet, Jack rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

A very LOUD laugh coming from the the partially hidden doorway in front, startled them, forcing their eyes to shift upward. Lily saw a man wearing a bright red suit roaring with laughter.

"You... two are... FUNNY!" the man gasped out. His voice was masked with a thick Russian accent. He took a moment to catch his breath and then looked pointedly at Jack.

"Do not tackle poor girl, Jack." he said, gesturing to Lily. A different voice laughed at the man's directness towards Jack.

"I can't believe you lost to a girl, mate!" These words were spoken with an Australian accent. Lily watched as a very tall bunny stepped out of the shadows.

"Shut up, Kangaroo." Jack muttered, irritated at the giant bunny.

He smirked and asked him, "Who's the sheila you brought with ya?" Jack straightened a little and said, "This is Lily."

After shooting an amused glance at Jack, the bunny said, "Hi there, Lily. I'm Bunnymund... Or the Easter bunny... or just Bunny, if you like. They all call me that."

Bunny gestured to his fellow guardians, including Jack. Bunny held out his paw and Lily shook it. The big man in the red suit put his hand out, too. "Santa Claus. But can call me North."

She shook his hand, too. She massaged it tenderly after taking it back because the man's grip was like IRON.

Both North and Bunny weren't what she had been expecting. They were both, in her opinion, a little bit intimidating for a man who leaves presents and bunny who hides eggs.

As she mulled over this thought in her head, something whizzed around her head. Then the it was right in front of her face. Well, actually, she was in her face.

A tiny woman with flittering wings was no more than an inch away from her.

She was covered in the feathers of a hummingbird and her purple eyes stared intensely at her... teeth?

All of a sudden she had her hands in Lily's mouth. She made a sound that sounded a little like a dying cat and a goose being strangled put together.

Her eyes shot around at the other figures begging for help. They landed on Jack's face and then narrowed. He was laughing like an idiot.

As best she could, she yelled, "JACKKKKKKK!" But of course, that only made him laugh more.

North and Bunny who had been talking with their backs to her, turned around when she called Jack's name.

North saw what her attacker was doing. "TOOTH! HANDS OUT OF MOUTH!" the big man bellowed.

The hummingbird lady flittered backwards, shyly looking at North and then Lily. "Sorry," she said. "I love teeth!"

This made Lily assume that this was the tooth fairy. Once she could see her clearly, she noticed that the small hummingbird lady called Tooth was actually very pretty.

Lily looked up and smiled at the tooth loving fairy. "I love your feathers!"

The fairy beamed at her. "And I love your TEETH!" Tooth replied. She flittered backwards and Jack came forward. "And you already know me," he said.

"Guardian of fun at your service." He did a mock bow.

"You forgot one thing," Lily whispered. He raised his eyebrows with curiosity.

"You're also a loser." Her eyes flashed with mischief. Bunny started laughing at the young winter spirit and Jack shot him a glare.

"Shut UP KANGAROO!" Then, he looked at her and said, "I... am not... a loser." She smiled at him and said, "Then why did I WIN?"

Without replying, he tackled her to the ground and they rolled around in the snow. They didn't even notice when all the other guardians turned to leave.


End file.
